Class Action Lawsuit Claims Trans Union Sold Consumer Report to ‘Sham’ Debt Collector

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A proposed class action lawsuit alleges Trans Union violated federal law when it furnished a North Carolina woman’s consumer report to a fraudulent debt collector.

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The 17-page Trans Union lawsuit claims the consumer reporting agency unlawfully furnished the plaintiff’s report to a third party associated with Blackwater Legal Group, a fake law firm that subsequently used the consumer’s information to generate and send a fraudulent dunning letter to her in September 2022.

According to the suit, the scam letter contained numerous “abusive and deceptive (or outright false) statements” about the plaintiff, including fraudulent claims that she owed Blackwater Legal Group or affiliate Cashnet USA $980.76 for a purported line of credit and “NSF Fraud.” In the letter, the woman was threatened with immediate legal action unless she paid the “phantom debt,” the case shares.

The plaintiff alleges that after receiving the scam letter, she checked her credit reports and discovered that Trans Union had furnished her consumer report to Liberty Credit Management, a third party associated with Blackwater Legal Group.

The complaint contends that the woman’s victimization by fraudsters was made possible by Trans Union’s “complete lack of care” in providing consumer reports and routine violations of the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).

Per the filing, the FCRA prohibits a consumer reporting agency from furnishing a report for any purpose outside those expressly specified by law. The lawsuit charges that Trans Union did not have a valid reason, as defined under the FCRA, for issuing the plaintiff’s consumer report to the “sham” debt collector.

In addition, the defendant did not take any steps to verify that Liberty Credit Management would use the woman’s report for a permissible purpose, the suit asserts.

“Even a cursory investigation into Liberty Credit Management by Trans Union would have revealed that it was not a legitimate debt collector,” the case argues.

The Trans Union lawsuit looks to represent anyone in the United States who, in the past five years, was the subject of a report sold by the defendant to a user pursuant to a certification asserting a permissible purpose under the FCRA, where the user lacked any interest in or authority to collect on any account attributable to the individual.

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